Looking for hummers and saw a hummingbird moth instead

I have monarda to attract hummingbirds and butterflies, but I haven't seen a single hummingbird all summer. They're always covered with bumblebees, of course. Last night I was taking a closer look at a Tiger Swallowtail that was on the monarda, and I saw what I thought was either a new breed of ginourmous bumblebee, or a tiny hummingbird. Upon closer inspection I could see that it was a moth -- a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth. Sorry for the lousy photo -- it was moving quickly, and I shot the pic with my phone.

Hi 16blue - It's been kind of a crazy Year for Hummers. I'm seeing more now than I have most of the Summer. Where I live we start getting the early migrators from up North plus this year's babies. But I've seen comments in the Hummingbird forum all Spring and Summer from members that have had either no hummers or less than normal this year.

That's cool that you saw the Hummingbird Moth and nice that you still have Monarda. They're a very pretty color. Are they 'Raspberry Wine'? My two varieties of Monarda are finished and I've cut them back, but you're in a colder Zone.

Congrats on the H'bird Moth. They look like flying shrimp! :-)

Carla

Thanks! Flying shrimp is pretty accurate.

I don't know what variety bee balm I have; I got them from another gardener and they weren't labeled. They've been blooming for about a month, but are on their way out. Unless I get mildew I'm going to leave about half the seed heads for the birds. I don't mind the volunteers; I'll just weed out what I don't want next spring.

I love hummingbird moths. Haven't seen any this year - yet.

I always plant 4-O'Clocks & petunias on one side of the house for the Hummingbird/Sphinx moths. We will sit outside and watch them in the evenings. AND it seems to keep them and their Tomato Hornworms off the tomato plants on the OTHER side of the house.

My son had his camera out with us when we were by my flower bed, and he snapped these pictures of a Sphinx moth for me.

It really seemed to be enjoying my garden phlox

And the last picture he got of it. Was hard to get the picture because they move around so fast.

I always wondered what those things were! I find them kind of scarry.Do see them a lot though

The first time I saw one, I just got a quick look at it, and then it was gone. For a minute I thought it might have been a baby hummingbird. So I started looking on the net, and I came across a site that said "If you think you saw a baby hummingbird you probably saw a Sphinx Moth". This year we ended up with at least 3 of them around my phlox and my butterfly bush. Glad they enjoyed it, because we hardly had any butterflies this year.